From New York Times bestselling author and economics columnist Robert Frank, a compelling book that explains why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in their success, why that hurts everyone, and what we can do about itHow important is luck in economic success? No question more reliably divides conservatives from liberals. As conservatives correctly observe, people who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But liberals ...

Why do the keypads on drive-up cash machines have Braille dots? Why are round-trip fares from Orlando to Kansas City higher than those from Kansas City to Orlando? For decades, Robert Frank has been asking his economics students to pose and answer questions like these as a way of learning how economic principles operate in the real world-which they do everywhere, all the time. Once you learn to think like an economist, all kinds of puzzling observations start to make sense. Drive-up ATM ke...

What Charles Darwin can teach us about building a fairer societyWho was the greater economist—Adam Smith or Charles Darwin? The question seems absurd. Darwin, after all, was a naturalist, not an economist. But Robert Frank, New York Times economics columnist and best-selling author of The Economic Naturalist, predicts that within the next century Darwin will unseat Smith as the intellectual founder of economics. The reason, Frank argues, is that D...

How important is luck in economic success? No question more reliably divides conservatives from liberals. As conservatives correctly observe, people who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But liberals are also correct to note that countless others have those same qualities yet never earn much. In recent years, social scientists have discovered that chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine. In Success and Luck...

From New York Times bestselling author and economics columnist Robert Frank, bold new ideas for creating environments that promise a brighter futurePsychologists have long understood that social environments profoundly shape our behavior, sometimes for the better, often for the worse. But social influence is a two-way street—our environments are themselves products of our behavior. Under the Influence explains how to unlock the latent power of soc...

Who was the greater economist--Adam Smith or Charles Darwin? The question seems absurd. Darwin, after all, was a naturalist, not an economist. But Robert Frank, New York Times economics columnist and best-selling author of The Economic Naturalist, predicts that within the next century Darwin will unseat Smith as the intellectual founder of economics. The reason, Frank argues, is that Darwin's understanding of competition describes economic reality far more accurately than Smith's. And the ...

A new luxury fever has America in its grip. Independent of stock prices, recessions, and inflation rates, the past two decades have witnessed a spectacular and uninterrupted rise in luxury consumption. Ordinary, functional goods are no longer acceptable. Our cars have gotten larger, heavier, and far more expensive. Mansions larger than 30,000 square feet no longer seem extravagant. Wristwatches for the super-rich cost tens of thousands of dollars. We are living in an era of excess.C...

Who was the greater economist--Adam Smith or Charles Darwin? The question seems absurd. Darwin, after all, was a naturalist, not an economist. But Robert Frank, New York Times economics columnist and best-selling author of The Economic Naturalist, predicts that within the next century Darwin will unseat Smith as the intellectual founder of economics. The reason, Frank argues, is that Darwin's understanding of competition describes economic reality far more accurately than Smi...

Financial disasters--and stories of the greedy bankers who precipitated them--seem to underscore the idea that self-interest will always trump concerns for the greater good. Indeed, this idea is supported by the prevailing theories in both economics and evolutionary biology. But is it valid?In What Price the Moral High Ground?, economist and social critic Robert Frank challenges the notion that doing well is accomplished only at the expense of doing good. Frank explores ex...

Ask a dozen talking heads about how the economy works and what course of action we should take and you'll get thirteen different answers. But what if we possessed a handful of basic principles that could guide our decisions -- both the personal ones about what to buy and how to spend but also those national ones that have been capturing the headlines? Robert H. Frank, (a.k.a. the Economic Naturalist) has been illustrating those principles longer and more clearly than anyone else. In Th...

Malcom returns home after months in Afghanistan, only to have his life turned upside-down. He decides to check-out of the rat race, get a boat, sail away and find a different life, maybe some well-needed balance. He survives the hard knocks of life and finds that balance in the islands of the Caribbean. Before long, the tug of friends and family brings him back to the Pacific Northwest, only to have his life turned topsy-turvy by the very forces of nature. This time, a different set of sur...

The fourth box set in the high-action JO MODEEN series, containing:Book 10, Modeen: Salvation - Ben fails to return from their last mission in Afghanistan. Has he met with foul play, or simply turned his back on Australia after the country betrayed him? Either way, Modeen and her team know he needs to be found ... and soon.Book 11, Modeen: Insurrection - when NatSec agents go missing and a team leader is found dead in his office, Jack calls in the big guns, Jo Modeen's team,...